Painted Hall Project

For the last two years the Old Royal Naval College has been cleaning and conserving 40,000 square feet of the Painted Hall. This landmark project will return clarity, colour and vibrancy to Sir James Thornhill’s masterpiece. Importantly, the project will also create a more stable environment so that it will be many decades before the Painted Hall needs conserving again.

As part of the project we gave over 80,000 visitors the opportunity to ascend specially built scaffolding to an observation deck to experience the drama of the vast lower hall ceiling up close.

The Painted Hall project is now in its final stages and will reopen in March 2019.

Love and Marriage in the Painted Hall

Tom Ryley

By Deborah Seymour, Painted Hall Ceiling Tour guide

05 September 2017

On the surface, a ceiling tour of the Painted Hall enables our visitors to experience the visual imagery of a political alliance at close quarters. However, should you scratch beneath that surface – not literally, it’s 300 years old and we are, after all, conserving it – a romantic tale unfolds.

In 1677 our royal founders, William III and Mary II, were united in a marriage arranged to ally the English and Dutch against their common enemy, France. 30 years later, with skilful brush strokes, Sir James Thornhill marked out a central oval on the Painted Hall ceiling depicting the political success of that union.At the top of this oval the winged figure of Fame, holding a laurel wreath aloft, trumpets in our illustrious royal couple. Look closely and you will see a banner displaying the intertwined initials of William and Mary picked out in gold.

The intertwined William III and Mary II beneath the royal crown proclaims their alliance

At the tender age of 15, and 6 feet tall, Mary was distraught at the prospect of marriage to her Dutch cousin, William of Orange, aged 27, and 5‘6”. She ‘wept all that afternoon and the following day’ but, with the public delighted at the prospect of a Protestant match, Mary did her duty and married William. Despite Mary’s initial reluctance and their difference in age, their joint devotion to the Protestant faith brought them close and the couple grew to love each other.

The royal couple looking comfortable together

William, unlike most of his peers, took only one mistress, Mary’s Lady-in-Waiting, Elizabeth Villiers. Despite this indiscretion, Mary’s loyalty to her husband was so great that she refused to accept the throne of England without him at her side. In 1688 the couple deposed Mary’s Catholic father, James II and the following year were crowned England’s first and only joint monarchs. Thanks to Thornhill’s skill, intricate details of the royal regalia can be admired from the observation deck.

Intricate detail of royal regalia viewed from the observation deck

In 1694, aged 32, Mary contracted smallpox. When William realised Mary was going to die he said ‘From being the happiest, I am now the miserablest creature upon earth. I have never known a single fault in her!’ Despite Mary’s protestation that he should stay away, William took his camp bed to her bedroom and stayed by her side until the end. Devastated by her death, William dismissed his mistress and granted a charter for the foundation of The Royal Hospital for Seaman at Greenwich which had been the “darling object” of Mary’s life. In acknowledgement of Mary’s intentions, William insisted the charter be backdated to before her death and issued in both their names. Over 300 years on, William remains at Mary’s side, under the watchful eye of Thornhill’s Cupid.

Together forever

Book a Painted Hall Ceiling Tour today

If you haven't already, now's the time to book one of our acclaimed Painted Hall Ceiling Tours. Ascend 60 feet and discover the secrets of London’s largest painted ceiling.

Latest

Standing proudly inside the entrance to the King William Undercroft, an obelisk, designed and created by the 2017-18 students on the Banker Masonry course at the Building Crafts College, is on permanent display.

The team working on the major development of the Painted Hall in Greenwich have uncovered the remains of Greenwich Palace, notable as the birthplace of Henry VIII and of his daughters Mary and Elizabeth I.

The Visitor Centre at the Old Royal Naval College is the best place to begin your trip to Greenwich. With fun activities for all ages you can explore more than 500 years of Greenwich's history through interactive displays, historical artefacts, costumes and more!